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Luqman’s Club Unity: music for showing up

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The Nugget
April 03, 2026

★ Luqman’s Club Unity: music for showing up ★

Luqman, photographed by @rana_thefrog

Luqman knows what burnout feels like in the body.

Not just tiredness, but the aftershock of pushing too far for too long.

Over the past year, he’s been everywhere — organising Club Unity parties, hosting a radio show on MainFM, running community DJ workshops, working and travelling between Melbourne and Castlemaine.

It’s work he cares about. It’s also taken a toll. 

“I have experienced burnout and the physical sickness that comes with it, multiple times, unfortunately,” Luqman says.

His next event is dedicated to community workers who, at times, are also running on fumes.

On ANZAC Day weekend, Luqman is taking over the Theatre Royal for a Club Unity fundraiser supporting Nalderun Aboriginal Education Corporation. 

His offer is twofold: raise money and ease the load.

“I can definitely relate to organisations like Nalderun, doing a lot with limited resources,” he says. 

“They’re pushing it to the max. So in addition to financial support, I also want to offer something that’s like a regeneration space.”

The setup includes a dancefloor and somewhere to sit down.

“The music’s gonna be powerful. It’s about strength in the community,” he says. “But also — if people are tired — can we just sit down and chill for a bit? I’m super into sitting down,” Luqman says. 

Luqman's Club Unity collective is built around openness. It’s a platform where DJs aren’t locked into a single sound.

“I like the idea of club music that’s not defined by genre.”

The Nalderun fundraiser lineup reflects that. Headlining is DJ PGZ, whose sets move across techno and beyond. He’s joined by Chicago-born Mothafunk and the hard-to-pin-down Randall’s Dad.

Luqman is super passionate about music and using it as an opportunity to connect.

He says October 7 shifted his relationship to electronic music.

“In that moment, it felt very wrong (to party) and you felt very disconnected.”

Since then, he’s been more interested in what these spaces can hold — not escape, but connection.

“I’ve been to events that felt almost like going to a protest,” he says. “Just being with people in a room like that can leave you feeling strengthened.

“The intention is to create a place where you connect, rather than disconnect. Something that fuels you for the next day.”

Behind the scenes, things are shifting too.

Since launching Club Unity in mid-2024, he’s run about 15 events — many largely on his own.

“While I can hold the vision pretty close, I’m just so limited in my capacity.”

Now he’s building a crew, sharing the work and letting go of some control. It’s a practical adjustment as much as an ideological one 

That change started to take shape at Club Unity’s festival at Lot 19 in December. Two stages, clouds that spit out giant hail stones (remember that?!) and an afterparty that went all night.

“That was the first time I felt like there was an actual crew,” he says. “That was really beautiful to trust other people. And I feel like that is the direction that we're heading."

It’s the same sense of connection that first brought him here.

Not long after returning to Melbourne from a stint in a French village, Luqman, a self-described “city boy,” was thinking he might want to live regionally. He made a spontaneous visit to Castlemaine.

“I just had a beautiful first day,” he says. “I met so many people. The energy made me feel like I could live here.”

He arrived wanting to contribute and found a community that made space for that.

“It’s pretty special here,” he says.

He’s based in Melbourne now and open to wherever comes next, but his Castlemaine ties remain strong.

“To be honest, I love this community,” he says. “We’re super lucky.”

On April 25, ANZAC Day weekend, his invitation is hard to decline. Come along and support Nalderun.

Dance and if it feels good, sit down.

❀ Kmac +1 ❀

Every autumn, I fall deeper in love with quilts and patchwork.

Here we are, bang on the start of cocoon szn, and Kmac +1 pops up to feed my obsession.

The new exhibition by Kathryn McCallister opens Saturday at 2:00 PM at Corner Store Merchants.

Solo stitching, reclaimed fabrics and storytelling through thread work.

Enjoy bebes.

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